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"They weren't real tears": Damning testimony at Melissa Caddick inquest

<p dir="ltr">One of the first police officers to interview Melissa Caddick’s husband has said he was acting extremely strangely and, when seen crying, wasn’t shedding “real tears”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Sergeant Trent Riley told the inquest into Caddick’s death of Anthony Koletti’s behaviour after he reported her missing 28 hours after he says she left their <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/property/real-estate/melissa-caddick-s-husband-ordered-to-vacate-15-million-mansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dover Heights home</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Louise Coleman, the junior counsel assisting, asked whether Sergeant Riley believed Koletti’s behaviour “was extremely strange and unusual”, to which he said, “Yes”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I thought it was strange a husband would ring the police station, report his wife missing two days later and wasn't prepared to come to the police station,” Sergeant Riley said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Or didn't really want police to go around and see him (because) he had too much work on that day.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Since the inquest began on Monday, it has been heard that Koletti impersonated Caddick the day after she went missing and falsely told friends he was with her at home.</p> <p dir="ltr">Koletti cancelled an appointment with their cleaner via text using his wife’s phone and lied to Caddick’s brother Adam Grimley and friend Scott Little in text messages, telling them he was home with her when he hadn’t actually seen her that day.</p> <p dir="ltr">Coleman asked Sergeant Riley about the text message sent to the cleaner, which he described as strange.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I did think it was strange,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“(He) contacted her closest friends but hadn’t let them know she was missing?” Coleman asked.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He did. Very strange,” Sergeant Riley said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The part-time hairdresser and DJ reported that his wife <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/wild-theories-over-melissa-caddick-disappearance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was missing</a> on November 30, just over a day after he said she left the house to go for a walk or a run.</p> <p dir="ltr">The inquest heard on Wednesday that Sergeant Riley’s suspicions prompted him to visit Koletti at the couple’s home in the eastern suburbs, with his body-cam footage played before the court.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You can’t be too careful these days,” Koletti can be heard saying while unlocking one of the doors.</p> <p dir="ltr">In the cellar, Koletti points out that Caddick “hasn’t even taken any grog”.</p> <p dir="ltr">On the upstairs deck, where the Harbour Bridge could be seen in the background, Sergeant Riley mentioned that it was a good spot for New Year’s Eve.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was looking forward to New Year's Eve, but I don't know now. It doesn't mean anything when you don't have the love of your life,” Koletti responds.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Did you go anywhere last night?” Sergeant Riley asks again.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Not that I know of,” Mr Koletti says.</p> <p dir="ltr">Sergeant Riley repeatedly says he doesn’t believe Koletti is telling him the complete truth.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Like I said before I think there's something you're not telling me,” Sergeant Riley says.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I told you if something comes up I will tell you ... I've been on this for a long time now,” Koletti responds.</p> <p dir="ltr">Solicitor Judy Swan, who is representing Koletti, pointed out to the sergeant that her client began to cry at the end of the search and interview.</p> <p dir="ltr">“They weren't real tears in my opinion ... I'm very confident they weren't real tears,” Sergeant Riley said.</p> <p dir="ltr">He noted that Koletti gave him two different versions of the last time he saw Caddick, first telling police that he wasn’t worried about his wife and hadn’t left home at all and later saying he had spent the day searching above the ocean near The Gap.</p> <p dir="ltr">“(He says) he didn't think she was missing but he was checking the cliffs around Rodney Reserve all day,” Coleman said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Extremely strange,” Sergeant Riley responded.</p> <p dir="ltr">The officer, who was unaware that the couple’s home had been raided by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Securities and Investments Commission on November 11, added that he was bewildered by Koletti’s ability to describe the clothes his wife was wearing when she left the house, despite not seeing her leave.</p> <p dir="ltr">The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan continues.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f2f2ce33-7fff-9678-4c7f-f542a1728f98"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Bombshell testimony rocks Chris Dawson trial

<p dir="ltr">An explosive bombshell detail rocked Chris Dawson’s judge-only murder trial on Thursday as Dawson’s former rugby league teammate testified that he was approached by Dawson and asked if he knew someone who could help “get rid” of his wife.</p> <p dir="ltr">Former Newtown Jets player Robert Silkman told the court that six years before Lynette Dawson disappeared, her husband approached him on a flight to the Gold Coast and posed the question to him.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was sitting there and Chris come along and kneeled down to my level where I was sitting and asked me did I know anyone who could get rid of his wife,” Mr Silkman told the court, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/get-rid-of-his-wife-chris-dawsons-teammates-bombshell-claim/news-story/0d90c610d2f21f701d972e9e1557968c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a> reported.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Well, I was taken aback. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘For good?’ He said, ‘Yeah’.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I said, ‘Look, I’ll talk to you when I get back to Sydney’. That was the end of the conversation.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Silkman told the court that he did not engage in any further conversation with Dawson.</p> <p dir="ltr">Then the former Newtown Jets player’s past was questioned due to his friendship with fellow teammate Paul Hayward, who was the brother-in-law of infamous criminal Arthur “Neddy” Smith.</p> <p dir="ltr">Neddy, a convicted murderer, drug trafficker and armed robber, spent most of his life in jail and died in 2021.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Silkman told the court that he was only socially acquainted with Neddy due to his friendship with Mr Hayward.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Yeah, I wasn’t actually drinking with (Smith), I was drinking with Paul Hayward who took me to the hotel with him,” Mr Silkman told the court.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Neddy Smith was in the company.”</p> <p dir="ltr">This then led to Dawson’s barrister Pauline David questioning Mr Silkman’s criminal history and accusing him of willingly lying if there’s a “dollar” in it, the publication reported.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You have a very loose relationship with the truth,” Ms David said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s not correct,” Mr Silkman said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Chris Dawson has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette, who went missing from the family home in Sydney's Northern Beaches in January 1982.</p> <p dir="ltr">The trial continues.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Nine News</em></p>

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Court warned to stop laughing during Johnny Depp’s testimony

<p dir="ltr">Johnny Depp has concluded his testimony in the defamation trial he has launched against his ex-wife Amber Heard after being on the stand for four days, as reported by <em><a href="https://7news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/johnny-depp-trial-judge-warns-fans-to-stop-laughing-during-courtroom-testimony-c-6585879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Depp is suing Heard for $50 million for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for <em>The Washington Post</em> in which she describes herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Although Depp wasn’t named, he claims the article cost him lucrative acting work.</p> <p dir="ltr">Both he and Heard have also accused each other of acts of violence during their relationship, which lasted from 2015 to August 2016, when they settled their divorce.</p> <p dir="ltr">The final day of his testimony saw Depp come under cross-examination by Heard’s attorney, Ben Rottenborn.</p> <p dir="ltr">When asked about audio recordings of arguments between him and Heard and whether she was the only one who had a problem with his drinking, Depp answered: “Sir, if anyone had a problem with my drinking, at any time in my life, it was me.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“The only person I’ve abused in my life is myself.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Remaining on the stand for redirect examination from his attorney, Jessica Meyers, Depp explained some of the text messages introduced as evidence by Heard’s attorney were meant to be “irreverent” or references to <em>Monty Python</em> movies and that he often handles “difficult” situations with humour.</p> <p dir="ltr">Some of his fans had to be warned by Judge Penney Azcarate to contain their laughter in the courtroom when Depp admitted he had trouble remembering some of the movies he starred in.</p> <p dir="ltr">He was asked to name films he appeared in besides the <em>Pirates of the Caribbean</em> franchise and faltered after quickly naming <em>Alice in Wonderland</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m so pathetic when it comes to knowing what movies I’ve done,” Depp said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m sorry. I just, I don’t watch them. I feel better not watching them. What was the question again?”</p> <p dir="ltr">When his response prompted laughter in the courtroom, Judge Azcarate issued a warning.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Order in the court or I will have you removed. Understood? Thank you,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Before the trial commenced, Judge Azcarate ordered that Depp and Heard were not allowed to pose for photos or sign autographs outside the Virginia courtroom, as reported by <em>People</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">She also ordered that fans weren’t allowed to camp overnight outside and that spectators in the courtroom must “dress in a manner consistent with the decorum of a judicial proceeding”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Audible comments of any kind during the court proceedings or provocative or uncivil behaviour within the courtroom or courthouse will not be tolerated,” a court document read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“There shall be no gestures, facial expressions, or the like, suggesting approval or disapproval during the proceedings.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Anyone violating this Order will be expelled immediately from the courtroom and will not be able to return during the pendency of the trial.”</p> <p dir="ltr">When Meyers played a 2016 recording of a conversation between Heard and Depp where Heard expressed concern about her reputation after reports of abuse in their relationship emerged, Meyers asked how Depp responded.</p> <p dir="ltr">“What did you say in response when Ms Heard said, ‘Tell the world, Johnny. Tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man, I’m a victim too, of domestic violence’?” Meyers asked.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I said, ‘Yes, I am’,” he responded.</p> <p dir="ltr">The trial, which has been live streamed on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoW1SIeAWaWb1IDY_WuLKvZygiJudUBSd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a>, began on April 11 and is expected to last for six weeks, with Heard yet to testify.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-98bc178d-7fff-f01a-668a-44689357504f"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Ben Roberts-Smith's former "fixer" delivers extraordinary testimony

<p>Amid a series of extraordinary claims, Ben Roberts-Smith’s former private investigator has told a court he triggered a police investigation into an “unhinged” SAS soldier, along with many other indiscretions.</p> <p>They includes watching woman as she allegedly faked an abortion and dressing as a bartender to spy on network Seven employees, all on behalf of Mr Roberts-Smith.</p> <p>When the relationship came to an end, the private investigator told the court he called Mr Roberts-Smith a “weak dog” for compromising him in an alleged plot to threaten former SAS soldiers.</p> <p>Private eye and former policeman, John McLeod has denied leaking information to the media. This was after the court heard he was closely communicating with Mr Roberts-Smith’s detractors who are accused of feeding private information to journalists.</p> <p>Mr Roberts-Smith is now suing Nine and its journalists over a series of articles claiming he committed war crimes in Afghanistan, bullied his squadmates and abused his “mistress”.</p> <p>Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all the allegations. Insisting he only killed enemy combatants within the rules of war, did not cheat on his wife and he abhors domestic violence.</p> <p>High profile private investigator John McLeod, a former fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, was called to give evidence in the defamation trial on Wednesday.</p> <p>Mr McLeod told the court he met Mr Roberts-Smith and his wife, Emma Roberts, while working security for a five-star hotel in Brisbane.</p> <p>Mr McLeod became a fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, running errands and organising mundane elements of their lives like concert tickets and repairs to their new home in Queensland.</p> <p>In recent years, Mr McLeod had turned against Mr Roberts-Smith and was in recent contact with the SAS veteran’s ex wife, as well as being accused of leaking to Nine.</p> <p>By the start of 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court, his marriage was on the rocks and he was dating a woman known as Person 17.</p> <p>Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith was still with his wife at the time and punched Person 17 after they had gone to a ritzy VIP party in Canberra.</p> <p>The court has heard Person 17 had travelled to Brisbane for an abortion after telling Mr Roberts-Smith she was carrying his child. Mr McLeod told the court Mr Roberts-Smith sent him to surveille the woman as she went to Greenslopes clinic for the termination.</p> <p>Person 17 did not show up at the airport or the clinic but Mr McLeod said he eventually found her at the nearby Greenslopes hospital which he said does not perform abortions.</p> <p>Mr McLeod told the court he filmed Person 17, who looked like “a normal woman”, coming out of the hospital and sent the video to Mr Roberts-Smith.</p> <p>Mr Roberts-Smith in his evidence last year, told the court Person 17 met him in a hotel room minutes later and confessed she did not have an abortion. She had the abortion earlier, she allegedly told Mr Roberts-Smith, and he ended the volatile relationship.</p> <p>“(It) gave me great concern that I was being manipulated so I’d stay in the relationship.”</p> <p>Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team have claimed his ex-wife and her best friend, Danielle Scott, leaked private information to Nine ahead of a damaging 60 Minutes program.</p> <p>In court on Wednesday, they began probing Mr McLeod’s relationship with Ms Scott in recent months.</p> <p>“Letting you know I’m thinking of you, we’ll have a drink in Bali over this,” Ms Scott said on March 31.</p> <p>A few days later, following the program, Ms Scott again checked in on Mr McLeod who responded, “They will come for me!!”.</p> <p>“Do you think it was enough to wake Kerry?” Mr McLeod added.</p> <p>Mr McLeod told the court it was likely he was speaking about Kerry Stokes, head of Seven and Mr Roberts-Smith’s financial backer, friend and supporter.</p> <p>Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers are claiming he worked with Ms Scott to jeopardise the SAS veteran’s relationship with Mr Stokes.</p> <p>The 60 Minutes episode included secret yet legal recordings of a conversation with Mr Roberts-Smith and others. Mr McLeod is believed to be present at the meeting, the court has heard.</p> <p>Mr McLeod told the court he “despises the media” and denied he was a source.</p> <p><em>Image: Nine News</em></p>

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"Pure spite": Ben Roberts-Smith denies shocking witness testimony

<p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith <a style="background-image: initial;background-position: initial;background-size: initial;background-attachment: initial;margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline" href="https://7news.com.au/news/court-justice/witness-alleges-ben-roberts-smith-ordered-execution-of-unarmed-man-c-5530148" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has denied</a> the claim that he was involved in the execution of an Afghan man, suggesting the “outrageous” story came out of “pure spite” that he received the prestigious medal.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Person 41, a former special forces soldier, testified on Wednesday that Mr Roberts-Smith grabbed an unarmed man by the scruff of the neck, forced him to kneel, and told a colleague to “shoot him” during a raid on a Taliban compound.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">The soldier said he witnessed the incident in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province in 2009, and was involved in the mission nicknamed Whiskey 108, located in the area.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">His testimony comes as Mr Roberts-Smith’s Federal Court case against <em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">The Age</em>, <em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">The Sydney Morning Herald</em>, and <em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">The Canberra Times</em> resumes. The 43-year-old is suing the publications over allegations he was unlawfully defamed by claims he committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The newspapers have pleaded a truth defence.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Person 41 is the first Australian-based witness to testify for the media outlets.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">He described stepping over the rubble of a bomb-destroyed wall to enter a courtyard where Mr Roberts-Smith and other soldiers were standing.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">After finding opium and what he believed was bomb-making equipment in an adjoining room, he returned to the courtyard to find Mr Roberts-Smith, another soldier, and a squatting Afghan man.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Mr Roberts-Smith and the other soldier, referred to as Person Four, asked to borrow his suppressor.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">“I thought it was a strange request but I complied … thinking he must need it because he’s going to go into the tunnel,” Person 41 told the court.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">But he said that thought changed when Person Four attached the suppressor to his gun before walking back to the Afghan man with Mr Roberts-Smith.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Mr Roberts-Smith then grabbed the man “by the scruff” of his shirt, marched him to Person Four, and kicked his legs out, forcing him to kneel, and facing away.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">“RS pointed to the Afghan and said ‘shoot him’ and stepped to the side,” Person 41 said.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">“I didn’t wish to witness what was about to happen,” he said, recalling that he stepped back into the opium room before hearing a single, suppressed shot from a M4 carbine rifle.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">He waited for another “15 or so seconds” before walking back into the courtyard, where only Person Four stood.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">“There was a dead Afghan at his feet.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">As far as he could remember, nothing was said as Person Four returned the warm suppressor to him.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Mr Roberts-Smith previously testified that the suggestion he ordered the man’s death “shocked” and upset him, saying his “professionalism was being targeted by these individuals and such an outrageous claim was being made”.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">An alternate claim that Person Four shot the Afghan man on the orders of another SAS operator, codenamed Person Five, was also dubbed as “completely false” by Mr Roberts-Smith.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">His trial against the newspapers has resumed after a six-month hiatus due to the NSW lockdown and strict border closure in WA.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Though some journalists can attend a live web stream, the public are unable to view it due to concerns of any “inadvertent disclosure” of national security information by witnesses, the judge has ruled.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Instead, redacted recordings of each day of the trial will be uploaded to the court’s YouTube channel within 24 hours.</p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 16px;margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline"><em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline">Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Maguire's ICAC testimony full of personal revelations

<p dir="ltr">Daryl Maguire, former NSW Liberal MP and ex-secret-boyfriend of former Premier Gladys Berejiklian, faced ICAC on Thursday, as part of their inquiry into Berejiklian’s conduct while premier.</p> <p dir="ltr">The inquiry started on Thursday morning with Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl, SC, rejecting an application made by Berejiklian’s barristers to make part of the hearings private in anticipation of Maguire being questioned about his relationship with the former premier. Berejiklian’s team said that the proposed questions raised “personal privacy concerns of the highest order for my client” and could lead to intense media scrutiny, humiliation, and harm. Ms McColl felt that it was not in the public interest for her to make such an order.</p> <p dir="ltr">Giving evidence remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions, Maguire informed ICAC that he was in a relationship with Berejiklian from 2015 until at least July 2018, when she asked him to quit politics following his evidence at another corruption inquiry. Despite this, Berejiklian confirmed at the ICAC in October of last year that the pair kept in touch until September.</p> <p dir="ltr">Maguire’s testimony was full of revelations about the couple’s relationship. The former state MP admitted to attempting to get confidential information from state MPs about land in Cawdor in the Wollondilly Shire to assist his property developer friend William Leong. He said, “I asked their view on what they thought would happen.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He agreed with former deputy premier John Barilaro’s statement that he was a “pain in the arse” in advocating for projects in his electorate. He also agreed that he was determined when advocating for millions of dollars in funding for two organisations in his electorate, the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. He admitted to lobbying the former state treasurer as well as Berejiklian about funding for these organisations.</p> <p dir="ltr">In addition, Maguire admitted he was a “serial pest” when it came to lobbying sports minister Stuart Ayres and Berejiklian about funding for a multimillion-dollar proposal regarding the Australian Clay Target Association. Ayres eventually signed off on $40,000 for the club in 2016. He is not accused of wrongdoing. The association later received $5.5 million from the state government to upgrade its facilities.</p> <p dir="ltr">Regarding his relationship with Berejiklian, Maguire said that he had a key to her home and that the couple contemplated marriage. In addition, he said they loved each other and had discussed having children. He told the ICAC that Berejiklian had not yet asked for her house key back.</p> <p dir="ltr">Berejiklian is expected to face the inquiry on Friday. She denies wrongdoing and has said that history will show she was acting in the best interests of the people of NSW.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images, Joel Carrett - Pool/Getty Images</em></p>

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“That’s not a cliff”: Ben Roberts-Smith downplays fresh allegations in court

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The case between Ben Roberts-Smith and <em>The Age</em>, <em>The Sydney Morning Herald</em>, and <em>The Canberra Times</em> newspapers, as well as several journalists, has recommenced, with an Afghan villager currently testifying.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The man has told the court a radio device was planted on the farmer’s dead body the day he was allegedly killed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The claim ties into the central allegation that the war veteran kicked a handcuffed, unarmed famer named Ali Jan over a cliff during a September 2012 mission.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nine Entertainment Co, the publisher of two of the papers, alleges Mr Roberts-Smith made an agreement with Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) colleagues to execute Ali Jan, which the soldiers then attempted to cover up.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all wrongdoing and previously recalled in court that he encountered a suspected Taliban spotter in Darwan who was legitimately engaged and killed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mohammad Hanifa, who says he is Ali Jan’s step-nephew, told Sydney’s Federal Court through an interpreter and via video link that he and Ali Jan were interrogated and beaten up by soldiers during a raid on the village.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said one soldier told him to “shut up” and pointed a pistol at his forehead after he denied being a Taliban member.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Hanifa said there was an interpreter with the group and described one of the men as a “big soldier” with “blue eyes”, who punched him “many times”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said he warned Ali Jan not to laugh or smile, and that he saw Ali Jan “kicked really hard” by the big soldier after Ali Jan smiled again.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He was rolling down, rolling down, until he reached the river,” Mr Hanifa said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The soldier was looking at him, he was standing there and looking at him.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said he then heard a shot and saw two soldiers “dragging” Ali Jan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the witness was shown a photograph of the dead man, he identified the man as Ali Jan and became animated when he saw a device in the photo.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These other things, the bag and the other device, they were not there,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They have put these things on his body.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barrister Nicholas Owens SC, who is representing Nine, asked the witness whether he had seen Ali Jan carrying a radio that day.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“By God, by God, he had nothing with him,” Mr Hanifa replied.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Earlier, Mr Hanifa said the farmer was not connected to the Taliban.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He was providing for his children and he was protecting his family and his property.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The trial had been on hold for a month due to Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak, but has since resumed after concerns were raised regarding the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan which could make it difficult to hear from Afghan witnesses.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Hanifa’s testimony comes as </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Sydney Morning Herald </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">and </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Age</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> revealed an image of Mr Roberts-Smith which was altered by the Department of Defence.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 335px; height: 223px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842683/7ab17256de68be9cbd6e333ff20fcb433ddc0944.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2e9957241a6b46a6a632eda515190197" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: ADF</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The photo, released in early 2011, shows Mr Roberts-Smith wearing a blank patch on the front of his uniform.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The newspapers allege they have obtained the original photo, taken on April 6 2010, which shows Mr Roberts-Smith wearing the Crusader’s Cross.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Crusader’s Cross symbol dates back to the Crusades in the Middle East during the 11th and 12 centuries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many Muslims find the symbol offensive, especially when it is displayed by western soldiers in their country.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">EDITOR’S UPDATE</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While under cross-examination by Bruce McClintock SC, Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, the farmer agreed that he referred to the soldiers who had conducted the raids on the villages as infidels.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr McClintock asked whether Mr Hanifa “hated” the soldiers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If they are coming to our houses, go inside to our women, of course that’s what you call them - infidels,” the witness said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr McClintock also accused Mr Hanifa on several occasions of lying to the court, including his description of the uniform of the “big soldier”, which he described as wet and sandy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The court had previously heard Mr Roberts-Smith had swum across a river to catch a suspected Taliban member prior to the raid.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The evidence you’ve given about seeing the big soldier wet is completely untrue, isn’t it?” Mr McClintock asked.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Whether you call it a lie that’s up to you, but I have seen this person with my own eyes,” Mr Hanifa replied.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Key images of the “cliff” from which Ali Jan is alleged to have been kicked have also been released to the public.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The photographs of Mr Hanifa’s village had been marked by Mr Roberts-Smith while he gave evidence several weeks earlier.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><img style="width: 500px; height: 199.41634241245137px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842692/capture.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c144cfe3755e4628938144e11a1abd37" /></span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Federal Court of Australia</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the locations, marked as point “B” on the photograph, is a source of contention, with Mr Roberts-Smith saying it represented a rooftop where his squad waited for extraction after the mission, whereas Nine claim it represents the area where Ali Jan was kicked into the creek bed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While looking at photographs and images showing a steep embankment down into the creek, the veteran told the court: “A cliff is a cliff - and that’s not a cliff to me.”</span></p>

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Ben Roberts-Smith breaks down during testimony

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the second day of his testimony, Ben Roberts-Smith broke down in tears while describing killing an Afghan boy who was operating a machine gun for the Taliban.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When asked by his barrister Bruce McClintock, SC, whether he had noticed how old the Afghan boy operating the machine gun in southern Afghanistan in 2010, Mr Roberts-Smith said he did.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You killed a 15-year-old boy … how do you feel about that?” asked Mr McClintock.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I struggle,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied, pausing to wipe his eyes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The proceedings were then adjourned, and Mr Roberts-Smith was comforted by his parents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith’s tears came after he recounted the firefight during a 14-hour battle with the Taliban that earned him the Victoria Cross, but told the court “put a target on my back”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“For all the good that it has brought me and enabled me to do, particularly, it is, unfortunately, the case, in my instance, it has also brought me a lot of misfortune and pain,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I was there to do a job, I wasn’t there to make friends.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith referred to becoming a “tall poppy” following the award, which gave his fellow soldiers a chance to “belittle” and “broaden their attacks” on him.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith also admitted to punching a soldier who had shot at a woman and child while both soldiers were on patrol in the Chora Valley in southern Afghanistan in 2012. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith said he didn’t think Person 10 was attempting to kill the civilians, but “had just lost control, that’s what was dangerous, anything could happen”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The soldier, Person 10, is one of the former SAS soldiers who have accused Mr Roberts-Smith of bullying.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Back at Tarin Kowt base, Mr Roberts-Smith said Person 10 “giggled at me and chuckled and I asked him to stand up and I punched him in the face. He fell back onto his bum on the couch.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith said he immediately reported the punch, as well as what had happened on the mission, to his superiors and later apologised to Person 10.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prior to Mr Roberts-Smith’s testimony, defence counsel Nicholas Owens SC summarised the case by the newspapers, alleging Mr Roberts-Smith had colluded to lie about being a mass murderer, and has conspired with a former girlfriend to conceal his alleged assault of her.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Roberts-Smith responded to the claims, saying the allegations made him “sad”, and the claims he allegedly told another soldier to order a junior trooper to execute an unarmed Afghan made him “very angry”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When asked about his reaction to “being called a mass murderer”, Mr Roberts-Smith said, “I spent my whole life fighting for my country. I did everything I possibly could to ensure I did it with honour.”</span></p>

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